Horribly haunting and I loved ever second of this read. A wonderfully written novel, with great characters.

Eerie/mysterious and a perfect read for the October and Halloween season I would say.

The general gist of this book is that we follow our two main protagonist Mira and Leah who are married. We switch perspectives between them both in recurring chapters all the way through the book.
Leah is a Marine biologist and gets sent on a mission with two other colleagues by the place she works at called the centre (just imagine it’s like the science factory place in Stranger things where no one knows about what goes on inside the building/cant ever seem to get through to call or check up on anyone)
Leah was meant to be on the research expedition for 3 weeks but ended up being 6 months. The chapters from Leah tell us about her time under the sea and what really happened down below in the unknown depth of the ocean.

Mira’s prospective is a mix of many different times throughout her relationship with Leah before the expedition and some side storylines with her mother who is sadly dying. To the aftermath of Leah returning onto land which at first everything seems dandy until it isn’t. Leah starts doing these strange activities at different parts of the day, excludes herself into a bubble and cocoon to let no one near her and creates a shield and shell, barely talks to Mira anymore and hides and stays in the bathroom for most of the day. For reasons we find out why later in the book which I’m of course not going to say 😅

After I had read this book I did have to just sit back and think about everything that went on through this book. I did enjoy my time reading this for sure, it has some great moments and for sure from the perspective of Leah and reading and finding out about what actually went on while on the expedition and what does eventually happen afterwards I was like ohhh 😲gave me very much nods and similarities to a few authors (who I won’t name as soon as you see the authors you will know I think the main aspect) but would I say this book is going to be a new fav for me,Sadly not but that doesn’t discourage what the author and the book has produced.
I will say one of the main things that I didn’t enjoy was the repetitiveness that was throughout this book one being the talking about hearing the neighbours loud tv upstairs and trying to work out what it is they are watching did start to become like Really 😕 do we need to know this constantly!

But like I said a overall great read that I flew through quick and you can’t beat those reads that keep you reading vibes!

3.5/5

I found this book both haunting and lovely. The Sarah Waters blurb is apt, as the writing reminded me a lot of hers. The depiction of grief is very moving, and I was so invested in Miri and Leah’s relationship even as it seemed to be disintegrating. This book has cemented me as a fan of Armfield’s.